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Male role in ancient Greece
Gender concept in ancient greece
Gender concept in ancient greece
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When looking back at many of the ancient civilizations, we can learn things about them based on documents written during that time periods and the events that took place. From these things, we can tell what they valued and the meaning behind these values. In Ancient Greece, many of their ideals are prominent in their practices, especially those performed during the earliest Olympic Games, which is something that Greece is known for. Many people know that the Games started here and that the gods were an influencing factor, but that is the extent of their knowledge. Little do they know, there were many sacrifices, rituals and praises to worship their gods during the Games. This shows a lot about their culture and how their values effect they …show more content…
These things all show how Greeks believed that Zeus was masculine, but why does this make them believe that he was the most important? It may not be popular knowledge, but in ancient Greek culture, masculinity and power were highly respected and desired traits. In fact, masculinity was of such a high value in ancient Greece that it is still influential in the culture today. This proves just how influential masculinity was to these people; over a thousand of years later, the culture still has the same ideals because of how strongly imbedded it was in the culture that long ago. This same thing goes for power. Power was something that the Greeks strived for, right next to masculinity. It was so important to them that some said that in order to have a purpose in life, you must gain power. The fact that power meant purpose for people in ancient Greece shows just exactly their ideals and how they viewed things. Their extreme desire for masculinity and power explains the praise that they gave to Zeus. The rituals that they performed and the texts that were written during this time show historians that Greeks believed that He was both of these things – powerful and masculine. His achievement of these traits gives explanation as to why he was so beloved by his worshipers. Zeus was beloved for his attainment of both of these, and the people of Greece gave him extra admiration for his accomplishment of
When a civilization is emerging in the way which it emerges helps to establish its values. Greek Society emerged in two different ways, through Athenian and Spartan mentalities. Through many wars and differing enemies, Athenian culture became more prevalent. However, each brought forth important ideals that defined Greek Society. They are the reason that when reflecting upon Greece we conjure images of philosophers or strong willed warriors. Greek society through individual action and institution truly valued duty to the community, innovation, and honor.
In Ancient Greece people valued democracy, wealth, entertainment, knowledge, and many other things however what is also important is what the Ancient Greeks clearly did not value. Of the many things, people, are possibly one of the most undervalued commodity in Greece include women, and slaves. There are also many other things that the Greeks did not seem to value one of which was anti-corruption measures. The Greeks seem to put most of their time and effort into society in many different ways from Gymnastics to plays even their houses are purpose built for social events. These values or more importantly the lack of value regarding slaves, women, and most importantly good government quite possibly assisted in the downfall of their civilization.
There is no doubt in mythology that the king of gods, Zeus, is the most supreme and powerful, ruling the sky. He controls the thunderbolt, a symbol of power feared by both gods and mortals. The Greeks and Romans honored Zeus above all other gods. He is without mistake, the god of all gods. Their stories of Zeus are plenty; his designs have molded mythology from his birth. Zeus' victory in outwitting his intelligent wife, Metis, by swallowing her pregnant, was the gateway used by the Greeks and Romans to show Zeus as the greatest god to come since his father and grandfather. However, as the stories of the gods and goddesses unfold, the Greeks and Roman's interpretation of Zeus' characteristics are different. Zeus is always upheld as the king of gods, but his other personal attributes to his godly rein are conflicting. Zeus' characteristics of fearfulness of female deities, cunningness and use of trickery, and lust in Ovid's Metamorphoses compared to the Theogony are opposed due to Hesiod's true respect of Zeus versus Ovid's lack of respect of Jupiter in Roman mythology.
The male role of domination is also shown in Theogony where Zeus is the highest and greatest of all the goddesses and gods in power (Heseiod, pg 4). And throughout the text male gods were portrayed as more important than the goddesses (Hesiod, pg 7). The goddesses would even sing to praise male gods. The text explains the Muses (Goddesses) sang of the august family of gods, of Zeus, and of family of men and giants (Hesiod, pg 4).
Athletic events at this time were also closely related to the religious beliefs and practices of the Greek citizens. Each competition was devoted to a specific pagan god. For example, the patron of the Olympics was Zeus. The Greeks believed that the physical strength and ability of athletes was a direct gift from the gods (http://www.meiaconcerto.com/olympic/olympia/ideal_o.php, September 27, 2004). Therefore, each athlete competed not only in honor of his city-state, but also in honor of the gods.
Mythology was critical to Greek people’s everyday life, just like how religion is in our modern day in age. Everyday events, such as a thunderstorm, could be linked to a god or goddess. For example, when an earthquake would happen, it would be Poseidon crashing his tritan on the ground. People’s lives revolved around the whole ideology and it served as a way to explain the unexplained and to help them in times of need. All of the stories of these great gods and goddesses were passed down generation through generation each time getting more extreme and distorted. People idolized these beings and built stunning life like sculptures of them. Zeus was the most important of all the Greek gods and also king of Mount Olympus. He became a king after
The culture of ancient Greece reflects the importance of the individual in society in many different ways. The Greeks used art, philosophy, and even their system of government to convey their beliefs in the importance of one single man in a society.
How the Greeks revered their gods. In ancient times, the Greeks had absolute and undeniable respect for their gods. They demonstrated their admiration by putting in place many rituals and celebrations to reverence the gods that they loved and feared in order to ensure harmony with them. In particular, the focus will be on the religious beliefs of the Greeks, including prayer and sacrifice, as well as on festivals and the arts, such as the ancient Olympic games and theatre.
Sports, in general, are a male dominated activity; every “real” male is suppose to be interested and/or involved in sports in the American society. However, it is not expected of a female to be interested in sports and there is less pressure on them to participate in physically enduring activities. These roles reflect the traditional gender roles imposed on our society that men are supposed to be stronger and dominant and females are expected to be submissive. As Michael Kimmel further analyzes these gender roles by relating that, “feminism also observes that men, as a group, are in power. Thus with the same symmetry, feminism has tended to assume that individually men must feel powerful” (106).
It is always important to look to the past in order to move towards the future. This was done in the formation of Western Society, and more specifically the formation of American society. The Greek culture served as a frame of reference for many aspects of Western life including government, architecture, math and the arts. Ancient Greek culture served as a very broad base for our society to be built upon.
Many people would blatantly state that the importance of the gods in Greek society derives from the fact that Gods in any society are usually used to explain phenomenon that people cannot logically comprehend, but in ancient Greece gods were actually entities that took part in the workings of society itself. Even simple aspects of day-to-day life such as sex and disputes between mortals were supposedly influenced by godly workings. Unlike modern religions such as Catholicism, Buddhism, and Hinduism, where an omnipotent force supposedly controls the workings of the world, a hierarchy of Gods characterized religion in ancient Greece. Working as one big family, which they actually were, each one of the Greek gods governed a certain aspect of the world in a way that usually reflected their own humanlike personalities. These unique personalities also contained many human flaws such as envy and greed, and were where the Greek God’s importance lay. Greek religion was more concentrated on the way an individual dealt with situations that popped up in the world around him than on understanding the world itself. In other words the Greeks were more interested in the workings of the mind than in the workings of the environment around them.
Ergo, even though Zeus is the almighty king of the gods, who can scorn the heavens and flood the Earth, he does show some human characteristics that make his myths more relatable. In most of the myths that Zeus is involved with, he is not a bi-natural god and therefore has human attributes. Zeus is usually the main focus of the myths he is involved with and usually does not learn from the mistakes he makes in them. This persistence of making mistakes and demonstrating his has other human-like characteristics make him a more relatable character throughout his myths and make him a much more enjoyable character to read about.
For most of it’s history, ancient Greece was composed of small city-states, that had little economic opportunity and prosperity, and could barely sustain a functioning government. Additionally, many Greek people were not confined to one region, and were spread out all across the western world(Ionian-Greeks, Mycenaeans). In spite of this, many city-states and Greek people had a great sense of identity, pride and communality. The binding force between these unrelated city-states was the belief in Hellenic culture/Greek customs. All Greeks believed in Hellenism, and it is one of the things that defined them as Greeks. In small Greek communities and City-states, Greek customs were the biggest legislative force. The most notable Greek city-states
...eir lives. Not only did the Greek gods and goddesses hold a major impact on the lives of the Greek people, but so did the spreading of the religion through architecture, poets and writings. Greek philosophers also comprised many ideologies that helped shape Greek thinking and the way people throughout ancient Greece would treat each other and their situations in life. All these religious beliefs and ideologies helped form the culture of the Greek people and explain things that wouldn't be able to be explained. The religion brought people together and helped spread tradition throughout the world. In ancient Greece, religion and ideologies were everything. They shaped culture, tradition, lifestyles, behavior, and decisions that people made in their daily lives. The religions helped for Greece to become unified and prosper throught their age of civilization.
Life in Greece in ancient times would remind you of your own life in many ways. There was school, family, athletic competition, and social gatherings. Knowing that participants in their sporting events competed nude or that you rarely knew your husband/wife until the wedding day does however, make you grateful for the society that you live in today.